


Little Bit Brighter

by waterbird13



Series: Tumblr Fics [72]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: M/M, Permanent Injury, Post Civil War, not team Cap friendly, pro Accords
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-23
Updated: 2016-07-23
Packaged: 2018-07-26 06:44:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7564219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waterbird13/pseuds/waterbird13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony visits Rhodey in the hospital immediately after Siberia. Rhodey is less than pleased to hear and see the evidence of what went down.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Little Bit Brighter

**Author's Note:**

> This is another piece I'm moving from Tumblr. It's a prompt; all you need to know is Tony is visiting Rhodey, still in the hospital, post Siberia.
> 
> Warnings: this deals with paralysis and permanent injury, it is not team Cap friendly. It takes place in a hospital.

Tony comes to visit him and he looks broken.

Not just his bruises and cuts, because Rhodey’s seen his best friend banged up before. No, it’s the look in his eyes. Flat. Destroyed.

He’d worn that look when he and Rhodey got the news from the doctor. It had then morphed into exhaustion, and then pure, simple determination that so often colors Tony’s features.

But now he’s back to this. Broken.

“What happened?” he demands. He hates the angle, hates lying on his back only slightly propped up by the hospital bed. Hates how he can’t feel his legs, hates how trapped he feels, here, when Tony is there, broken.

Tony tells him everything. His voice is flat, monotone, listless, and only breaks when he describes in careful detail the sight of Barnes murdering his mother.

Rhodey never got to meet Maria Stark. She never came to MIT and he never went to New York to visit the family. Any idiot could have seen how much she meant to Tony, though.

And then there’s Roger’s lies, which probably hurt Tony worse than anything, as hard as he tries not to show it. And the fight, and then they just left him there. Like yesterday’s news. Like garbage.

Really, they are damned lucky Vision was able to get to Tony to bring him back. He could very well have died out there, forgotten and alone in a frozen Soviet bunker.

The thought turns Rhdoey’s blood to ice. He throws his sheets back, opening up space in the bed. “C'mere,” he demands.

Tony starts. “I…I…”

“Get your ass in this bed,” Rhodey says.

“Rhodey, I…” He gestures to his whole self, still a little bloody, definitely bruised.

“Hospital sheets are designed to take it.”

“Not big enough for two,” Tony says. “I might…”

“Hurt me?” Rhodey asks sardonically. “Tones, I can’t even feel it. You can’t.”

That’s not true, and they both know it. They know that a concern regarding spinal damage and loss of feeling is that Rhodey will suffer further damage and not even know it, unaware as he’s unable to feel it. Tony doesn’t call him on it, though. Instead, he shucks his shoes and coat, and climbs into bed.

“I hate them,” he whispers.

“I know,” Rhodey soothes. “Me too, a little.” He pauses. “A lot, right now.”

“I’m gonna build you legs,” Tony declares, apparently done talking about Siberia.

Rhodey sighs. “Tony…”

“No. I am,” Tony says stubbornly. “I’m…I’m Tony fucking Stark, I can build Iron Man with a box of scraps. I can build my best friend legs.”

Rhodey can’t help but smile as he repositions them, holding Tony close. Tony’s always little spoon, always fits so neatly against him. It’s a little harder, right then, without feeling or moving his legs, but he gets them there.

“How ‘bout we sleep for now?” Rhodey asks. He’s technically been sleeping recently. More like unconscious, he thinks. Still, before that, the Accords and the clusterfuck caused by Rogers meant he missed a lot of sleep. He wonders how long Tony’s gone without.

“Okay,” Tony agrees, yawning, exhausted. He curls closer to Rhodey, puts his hand on Rhodey’s arm, gripping lightly, and then lets his eyes close.

Rhodey frowns, rubs his face against Tony’s hair once–and it could really use a wash, he thinks–then lets his own eyes drift closed.

Things look like shit right now. They’ll look like shit in the morning too, Rhodey thinks. But at least they’ll wake up together. That always makes things just that little bit brighter.


End file.
